Why was the 'The Batman' spinoff cancelled?

Gotham City PD was one of the spin-offs of The Batman that was in the works but it was shelved. Now, its writer, Terence Winter, has revealed the reason.

Appearing on The Playlist’s Bingeworthy podcast, the writer of The Sopranos said he was working to give the series a unique touch. However, this didn’t strike a chord with Matt Reeves, the creator of the new Caped Crusader universe.

“The idea was that we were going to do a 1970s cop show— something that felt like [Sidney Lumet’s 1981 crime and police drama ‘Prince of the City,’ but in the Gotham City Police Department,” he shared.

“It was going to have that [‘70s] feel. It was going to be a present-day cop who is like a third-generation Gotham City cop, you know, his grandfather, his dad, and, you know, and Gotham City was largely corrupt.”

He continued, “And this is the guy we meet in the present day who’s realizing that he’s kind of on the wrong side. The Batman was somebody that lived in that world, but you never really saw him. And it was really all about the police department and sort of this guy.”

Explaining his exit from the project, Terence said Matt had a different idea in his mind for the show.

“And I worked on it for a while. And ultimately, you know, Matt wasn’t feeling it. And I left; I know they brought in another guy after me. I can’t remember his name, the guy who did ‘Tokyo Vice.’ 

"He worked for a while on it, but that didn’t go anywhere. I have no idea what he did. And then I read about ‘The Penguin,’” he concluded.